The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-08-17
WONG CHIN FOOISM.

WONG C1lN fOOlSM.
THE Sunday Sentinel does its thoughtful
and devout Christian readers of all de-
nominations special favor, by inviting
them to read in the August number of the
North American Review, Wong Chin Foo's
reasons for being heather. This almond
eyed celestial ia thoroughly educated.
That he is a close and keen observer goes
without saying. His arriagnment of
christianity, or rather the various sects
who profess christianity, is of a character
that will not down by any amount of Or
binary din or clatter. 1t may be urged
that Wong Chin Foo sees christianity with
heather eyes, but it should be borne in
in mind, that he sees it with educated eyes.
born and raised heather when / was
seventeen, was transferred to the midst
of our snowy christian civilization, and
at this impossible period Of life, christian
ity presented itself to me at first under its
alluring aspects" He met kind christian
friends, he read the Bible. and "under the
spell of would-be soul-savers, seriously con-
templated becoming the bearer of heavenly
tidings to heather people," He began study
| ing fer the "high mission" and become
tisn secis." Here Wong Chin Foo
pays his respects to the various
leading christian sects. Presbyterians,
made him 'shudder, he found the Baptists
with too many "shells." "Methodism"
''struck" him as thunder and lightning
religion" Congregationalism had too
much "starchiness." Unitarianism was "all
doubt" and he was told that Catholic
ism" was worse than heathenism." Wong
Chin Foo having become disguised with
Christian sects, he turned to the INSPIRED
Bible" He got along so 80 with the
Creation fable" and the "E len incident"
but the "deluge'' and "Noah's Ark"
were posers. Nor could he see why the de-
cendants of Jacob were chosen" of God.
The heather critic regards the ''cruclfxion
of God" to "save" Christians, as "incom-
prehensible," but when in his investtga-
ton of "the New Dispensation, with its sR
forgiving business he says he went to
pieces" He is quite unable to comprehend
the conversion of Dsnnis Ksarney, the
California sand-lo!ter," who once howled
that the Chinese must go" singing "heav-
emily songs or how that murderers, cut
Threats and thieves, can become "pure as
new born babes in few short hours of
death preparation" and he says the more
he read the Bible the more "afraid he was
that he might become a Christian
We submit that Christians can, we think,
with great profit read Wong Chin Foo's
reasons for remaining heather. 1t
will try their patience, and
force the conclusion, that the
conversion of the heather Chinese is q
herculean task and that centuries must
intervene before the fulfllment Of the pre-
diction that
| 'Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Doth his successive journeys rum"
But, since Wong Chin Foo doubtless ex-
presses the reasons why other Cinnamon
prefer heathenism 10 Christianity, what he
says is worthy of consideration. The
heather writer, in connection with the
subject Of sects and cresds, seems to have
gwen some attention to the labor question.
He says; eff my shoe factory employs 500
men and gives me an annual profit of $10,-
600, why should 1 substitute therein
machinery by the uss of which need only
100 men, thus not only throwing 400 con-
tented, industrious men into misery, but
making myself more miserable by heavier
responsibilities, with possibly less profit?'
Manifestly Wong Chin Foo sees in this
Iabor-saving feature of Christian civiliza-
ton calamities OF unspeakable ccnse-
quences il China surrendsrs to its intro
duction. He does not Offer any extended
argument, saying only that ''au heather
believe In the happiness of a common
humanity, while the Christians only prac-
tical belief appears to be money making"
He denies emphaticaIly the superiority of
Christian ivilization-or that 'tbe white
man is the only civilized one" He boasts
that "China has a national history
of ct least 1000 years and has a
printed history $500 years befors
Europeon discovered the art of type
printing, and he declares that there are
fewer robberies and murders annually in
China, with its 100000, 600 population,
than occurs IN the State of New York. We
have not the space at our command for a
thorough review of the educated China
mans reasons why he is heather,
We make room for the following:
Love men for the good they 90 you is
a practical Christian idea, not for the good
ycu should do them az n matter OF human
duty. So Christians, logs the heather
yes, the heothen 3 possessions; aud Ia pro
portion to ,hsse the Christians love grows
IN intensity, When the English wanted